HARTSVILLE, S.C. — Coker University collected an 86-54 victory over Tusculum University in South Atlantic Conference women’s basketball Saturday afternoon at the DeLoach Center.
The Cobras (8-1, 6-1 SAC) scored 30 points off 24 turnovers by the Pioneers (4-7, 2-5 SAC) and Coker outrebounded Tusculum by a 54-36 margin. Four players scored in double figures for the Cobras, led by a game-high 20 points from Shawntenna Tillman and 15 points from Mariah Mitchem. Dasia Ferguson added 13 points and six rebounds, with Kristynn Knight collecting 14 points in 21 minutes off the Coker bench.
Ni’Kiah Chesterfield led the Pioneers (4-7, 2-5 SAC) in scoring for the sixth straight game with 16 points and five rebounds, but she was the only player in double figures as Tusculum had a season low in points and shot 34.4 percent (21-for-61) from the field. Angela Gomez had a season-high eight points and Danyell Booker had eight points off the bench for the Pioneers, with seven points from Jalyn Spurlin.
Coker shot 39.3 percent (33-for-84) as a team, but had 23 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points. The Cobras also scored 31 fast-break points and outscored Tusculum 52-34 in the paint. Tusculum was 9-for-18 from the foul line, but the Pioneers had a season-high nine blocked shots including three apiece from Carleigh Wilson and Jenna Sparks.
Tusculum led briefly three times in the first quarter, with Chesterfield scoring eight straight points for the Pioneers over a 3 1/2 minute span. Coker went up 17-11 with 4:55 left in the quarter on back-to-back baskets from Knight, and the Cobras had their largest lead of the quarter at 21-13 on a free throw from Ferguson with 1:26 to go. Tusculum cut the margin to 23-18 on a layup by Spurlin with 10 seconds to play.
Coker went on a 13-2 run early in the second quarter, taking a 36-22 lead on two free throws from Ferguson with 6:54 remaining. Tusculum was just 4-for-19 from the field in the quarter and was held to just two free throws in the final 3 1/2 minutes as Coker closed the half with seven straight to take a 47-28 lead at intermission.
Chesterfield was 5-for-11 from the field and had 10 points to lead the Pioneers in the first half, but Tusculum shot 34.4 percent (11-for-32) as a team and turned the ball over 14 times which led to 14 points for the Cobras. Coker received 14 points from Tillman and 13 from Mitchem, and the Cobras shot 43.6 percent (17-for-39) from the floor and 11-for-16 from the foul line while outrebounding the Pioneers by a 27-18 margin.
Coker had a pair of 8-0 runs in the third quarter, building its lead to 70-40 at the end of the period on a three-pointer by Courtney Taylor. In the fourth, Booker scored all eight of her points for the Pioneers, but the Cobras’ lead never dropped below 25 points.
Gomez was 3-for-5 from the field and 2-for-3 at the foul line to surpass her previous high of six points set Nov. 20 at Carson-Newman. Josie Horner had two points and a season-high four rebounds in 11 minutes off the bench. For Coker, Janay Legagneur had a game-high nine rebounds with Kamari Thompson and McKaylee Allen adding seven boards apiece.
The Pioneers will wrap up the 2024 portion of their schedule on Wednesday, Dec. 18 at Lincoln Memorial beginning at 5:30 p.m. The Railsplitters (4-5, 3-3 SAC) lost 61-49 in double overtime at Newberry on Saturday.
